Just a little history on the boat. It is an 88. I have seen it listed as an 89. The original owner bought the boat new in 89 so the dealer put the small square 89 tags on it as a joke. It was in Holland Michigan until I bought it and it came to New York in the finger lakes area. I was the third owner. Ran the boat for a year and then swapped out the engines. They are not 502's. They are 454's stroked. They are around 500 hp per side. They are bullet proof though. The best I have seen was 77 on gps spinning 27 pitch mirage plus props. I then sold the boat to a friend of mine and he put the hydraulic steering on it. He had it for a few years then it went to Virginia last year. The boat is a great boat. Never any problems with it. Actually we thought about buying it back when we saw it go back up for sale. Here is a link of it running . If it doesn't work, just look up 2015 Chicken Wing run on you tube and you should be able to find it. Good luck with the boat and hope you have fun with it. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer them.

Thank you so much for reaching out. How could you tell this was the original boat ( I didn't give you much to work with... are you a detective😊? I feel your affection for the boat and I am already getting attached to it. I am curious on any motor specs you might have, they are STRONG. What cubic inch is the 454 stroked to, compression ratio, the year that they were installed, spec sheets, etc...
you can p.m. me if you prefer... I don't want to bore this forum with specs but then again as the 311 seems to be a popular platform maybe everybody would be interested in how you got it to 77 miles an hour.

You won't bore us with bore specs. We all live to make a hot rod faster. We enjoy the engine conversations.

I'm coming out of the car world and one of the things I'm having to come to grips with is the Gulf of Mexico has no speed limits so I am only limited by the two "B"...budget and cajones.

😊😊

This is true. But that ***** can kill you. We were about 150 miles out in the contender a few weeks back and storm blew up on us. We all just said our prayers and held out. Luckily it passed and we got back on the fish.

I fully subscribed to the crawl crawl crawl, walk walk walk, trot trot trot, run philosophy. I want to develop the skills not just the thrills.

For about a month or so, this boat will be outdoors. I have a factory cockpit cover (with two vents) and a factory bow cover on her. Additionally, I have a full boat cover (canvas) cover over those...so two levels of protection. After a week of rain, I checked the cockpit and it still is dry and no musty smell. Any recommendations about the way its covered? Should I be concerned about "fogging" the gelcoat/finish on the deck (when the sun comes out in North Carolina)?
Thanks

Unfortunately that is basically how mine has been since last year. But with 3 covers lol. I have no issues with the gel coat or the interior. You'll be fine in my opinion.

Just wash and treat the full the full cover twice a year with 303 protectant and multi use cleaner.